India took just nine minutes on day four to wrap up the third and final Test against South Africa and complete a first-ever 3-0 series whitewash over the Proteas with an innings and 202-run victory in Ranchi on Tuesday.
Resuming at 132-8 in their second innings, South Africa added one run off ten balls before debutant Shahbaz Nadeem took the last two wickets off consecutive deliveries to give India a record victory over South Africa.
India scored 497-9 (declared) in their first innings, on the back of Rohit Sharma’s maiden Test double hundred, and Ajinkya Rahane’s 11th Test century.
India head coach Ravi Shastri was pumped up after his team’s thumping win and spoke about the games and the players’ performance. Shastri started by talking about the pitches which have garnered more attention than India’s achievements in the recent past. Shastri said that the team now focusses more on taking 20 wickets instead of the nature of the pitch.
“Our motto was to take pitches out of the equation. ‘Bhaad me gaya pitch’ (to hell with the pitches). Whether it’s Johannesburg or Melbourne or Mumbai, we want to take the pitch out of the equation. With the batting line-up we have, if they post big totals and then we have bowlers who can take 20 wickets – we can keep taking those world championship points we’re after. Rahane was never going to go anywhere. He had to rediscover his touch, which he’s done,” Ravi Shastri said while speaking to TV presenter Sanjay Manjrekar after the Ranchi Test.
https://twitter.com/hobart_133/status/1186517682461429761
India will next host Bangladesh for a month-long series, comprising of three T20Is and two Tests, starting on November 3 in Delhi.
